Last Night
The three most important women in my life were very sick, probably dying. I didn’t know what was wrong, but I was positive the cause was Irj Becic and his “homemade ink.” He had infected each of them when he scratched those pine tree tattoos into their skin. Finding him meant life or death for my family. I needed to know how he concocted his ink and anything else he could tell me, but would he? There was no time to waste.
As we headed west on the interstate, the light pollution from Des Moines receded in my rear view mirror. It got darker and darker. A cold fog covering the interstate created the illusion of a tunnel surrounded by gloomy darkness. The glare from my headlights, bouncing off the haze, was blinding. I worried my passengers, forced to lay in the bed of the pickup, would be cold. I was on pins and needles as I drove down the highway.
Given the conditions, the safest place was the middle of the road. I straddled the broken white lines separating the lanes. Catching my headlights, the painted white lines flashed up from the road surface like strobe lights, their pulsating rhythm giving me a headache. That, and the swirling murkiness to the side of the road, made driving exhausting, but I pressed on. The lives of my family depended on it.
One Month Ago
This all started for me at a New Year’s Eve party. I was singing along to some karaoke song lyrics on the TV screen when I heard my daughter, Samantha say to my wife, Claire, “So you’re okay to get a tattoo early next month.?”
Claire, noticing I heard the comment, had that look like, “Sam, shut up.” Before she could respond I asked, “Okay with what?”
The open secret in our family is Sam can’t keep a secret. She always says the quiet part out loud. That’s how I found out she, my granddaughter Hannah and Claire were going for matching tattoos.
Sam, seeing Claire was reluctant to answer me, jumped in and said, “Why our tattoos, of course.”
Looking directly at Claire, I said, “What tattoos?” From the look on her face, one of those “oh shit” looks, I knew they had cooked up something I wasn’t supposed to know about, at least, not yet.
Flashing an angry look at Claire, I said, “Why didn’t you tell me?” There was no reply.
Sam, realizing she let the cat out of the bag, spent the rest of the evening trying to smooth things over. “Oh Dad, we’re just trying to have a little fun. It’s a bonding thing.”
To be fair, I had heard some loose talk before between Hannah and Sam about getting the same tattoo as a ‘bonding thing.’ Sam called it the “Sisterhood of the Pines.” I didn’t pay much attention until they got Claire involved.
Why these three needed to mark up their bodies to prove how close they were to each other was a mystery to me. Because I had been blindsided by this, at first I wasn’t going to have anything to do with what I thought was a hairbrained idea.
After considering things, I realized they would do it with or without me. Changing my mind, I thought, “People have a right to expression and control over their own bodies.” I told Claire I would support her in any way she wanted. With that, they got busy making arrangements.
A few days later, wanting to get up to speed, I had a chat with Hannah.
“Do you have the tattoo parlor picked out?”
“Yes, I found a guy who specializes in tree tattoos. His name is Irj Becic.”
“Okay, tell me again about this guy. First thing, how do you pronounce this clown’s name.”
“Really, Pop, you can’t sound it out. It’s easy. Look at the letters, I-R-J, they sound like the word, ‘urge.’ It’s simple. See?”
“What the hell kind of name is that?” Hannah didn’t know, but at least I knew what to call him, if I ever met him.
“This guy does really great pine tree tattoos and that’s what the three of us want. We all love pine trees and that’s what we’re gonna get.”
“Okay Hannah, but tell me, how’d you find this guy?”
“I was surfing the dark web for tattoo artists and his name popped up.”
“Wait, you found this guy on the dark web? If some business is advertising there, something fishy is probably going on. How do you know he’s legit?”
When she ducked answering the question I knew right then, getting involved in this ‘little adventure’ was the right thing to do.
Hannah, trying to make me feel more at ease, said, “His site promotes his use of ‘personally formulated inks made from all natural products. His designs, done in the privacy of a country setting, are reasonably priced. Satisfaction guaranteed.’”
Later, when I tried to find his website on the “normal” internet, there was nothing. Given my computer skills, there was no chance I could surf the dark web to see what this guy had out there. I wanted more information, so, after some thought, I decided to do two things.
Three Weeks Ago
First, I offered to drive them to this place out in the country to make sure they were safe. The girls thought that was a great idea because I could be part of the adventure.
Second, I asked Tandy Garilovic, a tattoo artist who runs Tantric Tattoos and Piercings, in Des Moines about this tattoo artist, Irj Becic.
In my law practice, from time to time, I take court appointed cases. That’s how we met. She’s a former client I once got off on a small pot possession charge.
Hers was a simple case, but she might have lost her license with a conviction. When it was over, she offered to give me a free tattoo. I declined but told her, “someday she would owe me a favor.” Now was my time to collect by getting some information.
Tandy is a sight to behold. I am pretty sure there are a few open patches of skin left on her body to place another tantric symbol or pose, but I’d be at a loss to tell you where. She’s without a doubt, the most illustrated woman I have ever encountered. There’s something about her that puts me at ease, which is unusual, since I am not comfortable around people with a lot of tattoos.
We met up at a coffee shop near her parlor. When I told her I was after information about Irj Becic, I got one of those eye rolls only Tandy can toss your way. It shook me a little but then again Tandy was more than a bit of a drama queen.
“Jimmy, I know about him, sorta, never met him though. He’s from Serbia. He showed up on the radar here in Iowa a few years ago. Since I came from Serbia when I was a child, I like to keep track of other tattooists from the old country.
His parlor is out by Troublesome Creek about fifty miles west of here. It’s a little hard to find. I hear he likes it that way. He seems to specialize in doing tree tattoos, especially pine trees, of all things.”
That comment caught my ear. Hannah said the three of them were going to have a pine tree tattoo put on their ankles. Claire later confirmed it. Tandy then took a drag off her vape and let out a huge cloud of smoke. The barista working the counter gave her a dirty look. I suppose it was because Tandy was leaning her chair back against the wall under a ‘No Smoking’ sign. He didn’t say anything. I think he could tell she was not the sort of person who took criticism well plus she didn’t give a rip about what he thought anyway.
“Dude works alone she said. Big guy I hear and strange. He mixes his own ink. Why, I don’t know. It is so much easier to buy it commercially. Most people who meet him say he’s a little off. Are you sure they want to go out there? Have the girls come to see me. I’ll do them a good job.”
“Sorry, they seem set on him.”
She smiled, grabbed her coffee cup and got up to leave. Half joking, she said. “Make sure they have their shots.” Then she got serious, “You make sure you watch that guy the whole time. Rumor has it he likes the ladies, if you know what I mean, especially the younger ones. That’s probably why he’s out in the sticks, it gives him a chance to take a crack at female clients and maybe get lucky. Hey, given Claire’s looks, he’d probably want a crack at her, too. Hell, I’d like a crack at her myself.”
“Thanks Tandy, I’ll let her know.”
As she was leaving she said, “I’ll do some more digging on him. If I hear anything that seems interesting, I’ll let you know.”
After she left, I thought, “Quite a character. I like her.” Still, I was uneasy. What she said about where his business was and that he mixed his own ink set off an alarm. I hoped I’d get a better read when I visited his shop. I ignored my misgivings and put it out of my mind. I should have listened to them.
Two Weeks Ago ―The Trip to and Arrival at Becic Tattooing
It was the day of the appointment, and I sat behind the wheel waiting to drive the girls. I figured they could finalize their plans on the tattoo location and size on the way over.
Taking my pickup with the extended cab, I made sure to put a baseball bat in the bed under a tarp. Given Tandy’s description that Irj was a large man, if there was trouble, I might need an equalizer.
As we drove on, it seemed they couldn’t decide where they wanted to put their tattoos. This was their adventure and I tried to stay out of the conversation, but thought I’d offer an opinion, so I jumped in.
“Since you’re getting the same tattoo, who cares where it goes?” No one said anything so I shut up after that since I felt lucky they let me come along. Where they put their tattoos didn’t matter to me. What was important was to see this tattoo place for myself and meet Irj Becic. Plus, if this guy was as sketchy as I thought he might be, I’d be there to get the girls away quickly.
The further we got into rural Iowa, I thought about what Tandy said, that Irj’s place was “a little hard to find.” There had to be a reason, but I couldn’t figure out what, yet.
To get there takes about an hour. The first forty miles is mostly interstate or hard top roads, after that, it’s all gravel. When I say gravel, I mean dirt roads with lots of potholes. It was slow going but we got there on time.
The girls were excited to be there. When I first saw the building I thought, “It looks like a good spot for a murder, not a place to get a tattoo.”
Irj operates out of a ramshackle building nestled in an eerie stand of pines near Troublesome Creek. The sign above the door was hand painted, chipped and faded. It read, Becic Tattooing. At least it matched the condition of his building.
There were no other houses or commercial buildings close by. I assumed this location discouraged visits from inspectors. Having never liked dumpy places where there are few people around, I was uncomfortable.
It had been raining but it let up as we arrived. We couldn’t go in together because I had to let the girls out by the front door since it was the only dry spot I could find in the parking area. As they got out of the truck I watched as the three most important women in my life walked into Irj Becic’s tattoo parlor.
Pulling around the back I spotted a patch of gravel without puddles and pulled the pickup onto it. Once I got out, I intended to get inside quickly, but a guard dog named Vince blocked my way. I only knew his name because I saw the tag on his collar.
Vince was an Old English Bulldog. He had a huge head and eyes. I was sure he was part Mastiff. Having never encountered such an animal, I moved slowly. His eyes followed me while the rest of him sat motionless by the front door. He looked downright nasty, but his eyes told me he wasn’t.
My read of him was he was lazy, not cut out for guard dog duties. Acting on my hunch, I stepped past him and open the parlor’s front door. He watched me go by, not moving a muscle.
Irj Becic’s Tattoo Parlor
When I came in, there were no other customers but us. His irons were on the table next to the bench where he’d work on the girls. I hoped he had sprayed it down after his last customer, knowing they wanted tattoos, not rashes.
The girls were already discussing their plans with a hulking, dark eyed man who I assumed was Irj. As he spoke to my wife, daughter and granddaughter, he smiled wide and treated them warmly. Then he saw me.
“Hey, you, fella, if you want tattoo, sit on the couch and wait. I am working with these ladies. If you don’t like it, come back later. Anyway, you look like a cop. I don’t do cops. Maybe you shouldn’t come back.”
“I’m no cop. These ladies are my family and I drove them here.”
I could tell right away I was not going to get along with this hump. Tandy said he was from Serbia and his thick accent sounded like it. I tried to ignore him, but he kept talking at me. Actually, it was more like yelling.
“I’m doing the girls. I like these girls. If you’re family, okay. You sit there and be quiet. You sure you’re not a cop.”
“I’m a lawyer.”
“Oh, okay, well that’s no better. I hate lawyers too. Go wait in the car.” Remembering Tandy’s warning about him and young women, I said, “I’m staying or they’re leaving, your choice.”
Hannah tried to get me to focus on anything besides Irj. “Pop, look at his artwork. He’s great.”
I scanned the walls of his parlor, looking at his paintings, mostly of pine trees. I thought, “He’s no Rembrandt, but his stuff isn’t bad.”
There was something else in the far corner that caught my eye. It was a rack of brightly colored glass ink jars. On a tabletop under the rack was an old leather bound book. While he was busy talking to the girls, using my phone, I snapped a couple of photos of the ink and the book.
Making sure he wasn’t looking, I opened the book and saw the contents, handwritten in Cyrillic. Because I didn’t want to draw attention to my snooping, I didn’t ask what the book was for.
When I could get a word in I said, “Hey, Irj, why’s this building in the middle of a stand of pines?”
Turning to look at me, he said, “I love pines, they smell great, stay green all year. I live for pines. I can do best pine tree tattoos.”
Claire jumped into the conversation. “I love pines too. If I could be a tree, I’d be a pine.”
Irj got a wide grin. I didn’t like it.
“Why are you smiling, Irj.”
“It’s nothing. Like I said, I can do great pine tree tattoos for the lovely ladies, wherever they want. Of course, I need to look at their skin.”
I thought, “Tandy was right, here we go.”
Samantha said, “I want my tattoo to be on the right foot.”
Hannah pointed at the back of her upper right arm and said, “I’ll have mine here.”
Irj thought those were great spots. When it came to Claire, he hesitated. She said, “Can you put mine on my ankle?”
Doing a quick look, he said “No. Better on place like your shoulder above breast.” He smiled again and said, “Lift up your shirt. Let me see if that’s a good spot.”
Knowing what he was after and remembering Tandy’s warning, I said, “Hon, just pull your tee shirt down over your shoulder. That should be enough.
Irj shot a dirty look my way then turned back to Claire and said,. “Nice, but not good spot, the skin on front of shoulder, too thin, needle too thin. Let’s try back of shoulder.”
She turned around. Lifting her shirt, she revealed her whole back. Claire wasn’t wearing a bra. Into this tattoo experience all the way, she’d show what she had to get the right spot.
I needed to shut down this ‘skin search’ before it got out of hand. “Let’s go with the back of the shoulder,” I said.
Irj got right up to her shoulder to look. He was closer than I was comfortable with, then agreed the tattoo should go on the back of Claire’s shoulder. When she pulled her shirt back down, I relaxed a little.
He then walked over to the corner holding the rack of inks I had spied earlier. He first showed them to Claire. “These are inks I make myself. None better around. Pick one. I color pine tree tattoo for you all.”
The girls gathered around and looked at the colors for a minute or two, then decided to have a medium shade of green incorporated into each tattoo.
Selecting the color they wanted, Irj smiled but said, “Really, you want that green, not this green.” He held up a glass container with a different, darker green, saying, “I make this myself, all natural. This is best color. You will live long time and stand tall and strong, like pine trees.”
Looking at Irj, I said, “What the hell does that mean?”
“You will see, Papa.” Irj must have heard Hannah call me Pop and garbled it, thinking Papa was my name. By now, I was long time tired of this weirdo. Turning to the girls, I said, “Just do the pine trees and let’s go. You don’t need any color.”
Irj jumping in, said, “I throw in the color for free. It will make tattoos pretty.”
I still didn’t like it, but the girls went for it. Before Irj got to work, he opened the leather book on the table near the ink pots, turned to a particular page, then said something under his breath. I was sure the girls didn’t see or hear it, but I did. I wondered what he was doing but didn’t ask.
Then, working quickly, he put the pine tree tattoos in the places they chose, adding the green pine needles color as he went. First he did Samantha’s foot. Then the back of Claire’s right shoulder. He finished with the back of Hannah’s right arm.
The old leather book was open to the page I saw him reading from under his breath before he started. While he was doing the tattoos, I snapped a photo on my cell. I went back and stood close to my family to watch Irj work. I hoped he didn’t notice.
When it was over, we paid and left. The girls fell asleep almost immediately after getting in the pickup. That was normal for Sam and Hannah, but, as a rule, Claire did not sleep in a moving vehicle. I was a bit concerned as to why, worried maybe Irj had done something. Again, I dismissed any uneasy feelings.
As we headed back up the dirt road to the highway, an eerie fog drifted over the road making the drive in the dark unsettling. I figured once we got to the interstate, things would clear off. It didn’t, the fog got thicker.
I hated having no one to talk to on the way back home. I also could not shake the feeling that Irj had been up to something when he read from that old leather book. All the way home, I wondered why he pushed the girls to use that particular shade of green ink. I had no answers, then.
After Getting the Tattoos
In the following two weeks Claire’s tattoo started healing. At first, there was nothing unusual accept for some redness and bumpiness of the skin. I applied the moisturizer to her back three times a day as Hannah told me to do. As the tattoo started to darken, the redness faded and the green of the pine needles stood out against the contrasting dark tree colors, I had to admit, Irj wasn’t a bad artist.
By day ten of the healing process Claire’s skin at the tattoo site seemed to be bumpier than it had been. It was almost like little needles were starting to poke out from the tattoo. I called Samantha.
“How’s your tattoo healing?”
She said, “At first I thought my foot hurt because I wear shoes all day. Then I noticed the skin on my foot seems really bumpy like needles are growing out of the tattoo.” “The color is still good. Also, my joints seem to be stiffening up.”
I then asked, “How’s Hannah?”
“She’s not feeling well, kinda stiff like me. The back of her arm is bumpy. It’s the same thing I’m having.”
“Maybe we should get you guys to a doctor in case something is infected.”
She said, “No. I’m going to contact Irj first and see if this reaction has happened before and what he recommends.”
“Why talk to that guy? He’s no doctor. He probably caused this.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Dad. I figure he’s run into this reaction before. If he hasn’t, I’ll call a doctor and let you know later in the day how we are feeling. If I hear from Irj, I’ll let you know.”
I left it at that but, I shouldn’t have.
The Spell
Later that evening, at bedtime, I noticed Claire seemed to be moving with some difficulty. I asked, “Are you okay? Trouble with your knees?”
She said, “They have been stiff all day and so has my back. Maybe a good night’s sleep will help.” We left it at that and turned off the TV.
When I awoke in the morning, I noticed Claire sitting on the edge of the bed in the dark. She had pulled the blanket and top sheet on her side of the bed down. It was unusual for her to be up before me and even more unusual for her to just sit on the bed after getting up.
She asked me to turn on the lights. When I did, I noticed long, thin green pieces covering the sheets on her side of the bed. They were like pine needles. Looking closer, that’s exactly what they were.
I still didn’t believe what I saw, “Are those pine needles? How did they get in the bed?”
It was then she lifted up her shirt. From the tattoo site green pine needles were sticking out of her skin. Worse, they seemed to be spreading down her back and up over her shoulder. It was almost like I could see them moving, like worms crawling up and down.
“Claire, what the hell happened?”
All she could do was moan. Then, she said, “They really hurt. What is it? Get them off me.”
Reaching over, I tried to sweep the needles off the surface of her skin. When that didn’t work, I tried to pull one out. Claire screamed in pain.
Before my eyes, her back and torso were turning green with little needles. It was then I noticed the skin on her arms seemed to be a rough grayish brown, almost like the bark on a branch of a pine tree. As the afternoon wore on, I noticed more of Claire’s skin changing. The rest of her body was darkening and becoming a grayish brown, the surface rough, like tree bark.
I realized, if Claire was going through this, Samantha and Hannah must be experiencing the same thing. Panicking, I called Samantha and told her what was happening.
“Me and Hannah have the same thing and feel awful, stiff and feverish.”
I asked Sam, “Can you put some of the needles that came out of you and Hannah in plastic bags. I did the same with Claire who was by now sprouting green needles from her neck. Not knowing what else to do. I called Tandy.
Tandy’s Revelation
At first, she didn’t pick up. I tried again and again, my panic growing because Claire was sicker now and I suspected Sam and Hannah were feeling the same. A short time later Tandy did call back.
I said, “The girls are sick. I know it was something Irj did. Have you heard anything?”
“Jesus, Jimmy, I was just about to call you. Irj is involved in some Serbian/Slavic mystical tattooing group. From what I hear, they like to make their own ink and recite spells before they tattoo clients. It’s weird, but probably harmless.”
“Tandy, didn’t you hear what I just said, my family is sick. Needles are growing out of their pine tree tattoos and their joints are stiff.”
“Do you mean like real pine needles? Christ, you didn’t let Irj use his homemade ink on them did you? There is no telling what’s in that crap. Get them back out there. Find out what he used. I can’t believe this is the first time this has happened.”
“To hell with Irj, I’m taking the girls to the hospital?”
“Don’t do that. They won’t know what to do and they’ll waste time calling the health department who won’t do anything. You gotta get him to tell you what he used and how to counteract it. Get samples of the ink.”
“Tandy, I heard him read some words out of an old leather bound book before he used the green colored ink on the girls. Do you know why he would do that? I have a photo of the page with the words but it’s in Cyrillic. I’m sending it to your cell now.”
She said, “I don’t, but no doubt they believe it gives them some kind of magical power.”
When the photo arrived, Tandy said, “I’ll get this to my Serbian tattooists friends. Maybe one of them will know what this says.” She then said, “There was a gal in here not long ago who said she had been out to his parlor. When he insisted on using some colored ink she didn’t want, she bolted. She said he was reading from an old book right before she took off.
“Maybe that book has something to do with what’s going on. You have to get it. Let’s hope one of the people I know can read it and understand those words, but Jimmy, that’s a long shot.”
Based on what I was seeing, I worried that the spells Irj cast were real and no matter what I did, there was no going back. Still, I had to try. I was going to get some of the ink and that old leather book, even if I had to kill Irj to do it.
Our Return to Irj’s Tattoo Parlor
My attention turned back to Claire. A grayish, rough brown bark-like substance was covering her skin. It was then I noticed she seemed to be dripping something from her tattoo site. When I touched it, it was a thick, sticky substance, like pine tree sap.
I got her dressed. When I tried to help her into the pickup she was too stiff to sit in the cab. I had to lay her down in the bed of the truck. Before we left, I got some blankets and pillows for her. I headed to Sam’s house. When I got there she had talked to Irj. “He said to come out right away, without you.”
“He can go to hell; I’m not letting you go alone. Anyway none of you look well enough to drive.” Sam and Hannah were also too stiff to get into the cab, so I had them lay down with Claire in the bed of the truck.
It took about an hour to get to Irj’s parlor.
I was livid this was happening. Making a promise to myself, I thought, “If that weirdo has poisoned my family, I’m gonna beat him to death and burn his place down.”
Once we got close to Irj’s parlor, I had to go slower because the dirt road was bumpy, and it would bounce the girls around. When we did arrive, I could see Irj in the pine grove digging three holes. They weren’t large, only wide and deep enough to plant a tree in each. I didn’t see any saplings close to where he was working. I found that strange.
When I got out of the truck he saw me and ran into the back door of his building. It was like he didn’t expect me and wanted to avoid dealing with me. I was sure he was going for a weapon or trying to hide something, probably his book. Besides the baseball bat already in the bed of the pickup, I brought a handgun. I was set on using it if I had to. By this time, the girls pain and stiffness had increased to the point of intolerable. They complained how much their tattoos hurt and that they felt like their joints were locking in place. The green needles were now covering most of their bodies.
The Confrontation
When I pushed the front door of his parlor open, he was standing by the ink rack and the table with the old leather book.
As I entered, I said, “What did you do to my family?”
Irj smirked then said, “I give them what your wife wanted. She wanted to be a pine tree. My magic green ink works, I can grant wishes. I know the spell.”
“I saw you reading out of that old book before you did their tattoos, what were you reading?”
“It’s an old Slavic magic spell. You can’t read it, it’s in Serbian.”
Pointing the gun at Irj, I said, “I don’t need to read it. You read the words that reverse this curse you placed on them, or I’ll blow your ugly head off.”
“Go ahead, shoot. They become pine trees anyway. There is no way back now. I can’t stop this, and I don’t want to. How do you think I got so many pine trees. I use magic ink and ancient spells from book when I do pine tree tattoos.
The people all come back as they turn into trees, looking for the cure. When they finish changing, I plant them in the grove outside. I love them and care for them, like I’ll do for your girls. I have their holes dug. They will go there. Live long time.”
“Make them better or you die,” I said.
I could tell this pigheaded Serb wasn’t going to help me. My anger was so overwhelming that I hadn’t noticed that he was inching closer. He lunged at me, trying to knock the gun from my hand. Slipping as he came forward, he fell and hit his head on the table where he tattooed my family, knocking himself out.
I didn’t know what to do next, then I got an idea.
Reaching over to the table where he kept his irons and hex needles, I found some pots of black and a light brown homemade colored ink on his “magic ink” rack. I filled two irons with the different colored ink.
Prior to being a lawyer, I was a graphic artist and not too bad of one. I figured to turn him into a plant since he did that to my family by using his own ink and magic.
Before I started, I noticed the old book on the table was open to a page. I wasn’t sure it was the page he used to curse Claire, Sam and Hannah but I tried to read it. Of course I couldn’t. It was in Cyrillic. Then I realized my phone had a scanner and translator program. I can set it to read aloud the Cyrillic words in English.”
Setting the voice feature to read the picture of the page I had taken, the phone read out words in English. The translation was choppy, but it was all I had. Ripping open his shirt, and with Irj still out cold, I tattooed a tumbleweed on his chest, a big one using the magic ink.
When done, I grabbed that book, and the green ink jar he used to tattoo my girls and then set his building on fire. At the last moment, I pulled Irj outside. As livid as I was, I could not have let him burn to death in that creepy junk shop he called a tattoo parlor.
He was lying to me. I was sure there was a cure. Irj, tattooed with his own “magic ink” and facing a transformation, would tell me what the cure was.
Once, back outside, I looked in the bed of the pickup. Pulling back the blankets covering them, the girls were gone. They should have been there, but they weren’t. What I saw in their place made my blood run cold. Not waiting for Irj to come to, I left him on the ground. Taking the green ink and old leather book and jumping in the pickup, I hotfooted it back home.
It didn’t take much to turn Irj’s place into a roaring conflagration. As I drove away, I could see the sky glow yellow and red in my rearview mirror as his tattoo parlor burned. I figured Irj would be okay once he came to but didn’t check to make sure. I had to get the girls back home, right away.
An All Night Task
When I got home, after the events at Irj’s parlor, I had a task to perform. If my neighbors looked out their windows, I bet they thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care.
All through the night, I used my garden shovel to dig three holes near the back of my lot. I was pretty sure where the underground power lines were located, so I was able to avoid electrocuting myself. Right as the sun rose I completed my task, the planting of three new pine trees next to one another. Each tree has the pleasure of the company of the other two. I put them like that because I knew that’s how they’d want to be.
Next Morning ― News About the Fire at Irj’s
Exhausted from my overnight efforts, I came in the house and brewed a cup of coffee. Sitting at the kitchen table, I read a story online in the Des Moines newspaper about a fire near Troublesome Creek.
It read: “The Audubon Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene of a fire at a tattoo parlor near Troublesome Creek last night. During the efforts to control the blaze a large tumbleweed blew across the parking lot, almost knocking a firefighter into the burning building. The errant vegetation burned along with the structure.
A stand of pines next to the building also caught fire. Firefighters on the scene quickly controlled the blaze. The structure was a total loss. The cause of the fire is unknown. There were no deaths or injuries. The State Fire Marshall’s Office investigation continues.”
At first, I wondered if the Fire Marshall’s investigation would lead them back to me. It never did and there were no further reports about Irj Becic or the fire.
Sisterhood of the Pines
Now, I get up every morning, and visit those three pines. I tell them what I’ve been doing. Sometimes I swear I hear them talking to me but it’s probably the wind passing through their needles and branches.
When I return to the house, I make a cup of coffee and sit at the kitchen table. Looking out the picture window, I think of the three most important women in my life as I stare at the Sisterhood of the Pines. Even my neighbors have commented on how strong, tall and robust those three pines look now that they have taken root. They think the trees are beautiful. So do I, but for different reasons.
Irj took something from me he could not give back, my family. I returned the favor. By tattooing him with his own “homemade magic ink” and playing the incantation from that old leather book on my phone’s translator, he turned into a tumbleweed, which seemed to be appropriate.
I had no idea he’d burn in the fire, but I have zero regrets he did. I keep the ink and the old leather book in the event I can reverse this curse someday.
Irj was right about one thing though; my girls “will live long time and stand tall and strong.” To me, that’s no consolation. Every time I cast my gaze out the window and see the Sisterhood of the Pines, I marvel at how beautiful they were and are. Then, it hits me, my penalty for failing to protect them is perpetual loneliness.
*
Learn more about Edward on the Contributors page.
(Photo: Old Photo Profile/flickr.com/ CC BY 2.0)
The 2024 Best in Rural Writing Contest is now underway!
$500 first prize, $200 runner-up. $5 entry fee (with a $10 discount on online writing courses).
Accepting fiction and nonfiction under 6,000 words. To enter, click here.
Deadline: September 30th, 2024
The 2024 Best in Rural Writing Contest is sponsored by The Daily Yonder. The Daily Yonder offers news, analysis and stories from Rural America, free for readers to enjoy. Visit dailyyonder.com to get more great rural stories, or sign up to their newsletter to receive rural reporting directly in your inbox. Alternatively, you can listen and subscribe to their podcast, Rural Remix, wherever you get your podcasts.
- Sisterhood of the Pines by Edward N. McConnell - July 4, 2024
- The Hereford Watercolor Appreciation Society by Edward N. McConnell - July 28, 2022